South Carolina public schools collected $11,700 per student this school year from several different financial sources. Only 44 percent of the total was spent on instruction, according to the South Carolinians for Responsible Government Foundation. Their conclusions were compiled from raw data released by local districts and state agencies. The Foundation has compiled and published a ten-page report that includes district-by-district figures for funding in each of the state’s 83 traditional public school districts, as well as long-term trends detailing the size and scope of that money. The full report may be found online at www.SCRGFoundation.org.
There is a huge communications disconnect between the citizens of South Carolina, their public school administrators and a majority of teachers. The primary reason for the communications disconnect is that their information comes from widely different sources with different motivation.
Much of the information flowing to public school administrators and teachers comes from the U. S. Department of Education. President Carter created the national Department of Education that functions frequently as a federally funded extension of the National Education Association, the powerful partisan union representing public school employees. In South Carolina, a “Right to Work State,” a large numbers of the teachers are not members of the union. Some of those who pay dues do so in order to receive free legal services should they face a work related legal problem. In states where union membership is mandatory in order to get a job, all teachers are members whether or not they support the political goals of the NEA.
The federal government has no constitutional role in the education of children, however, pressure and financial support from the education lobby has prevented state government leaders from challenging federal authority to issue mandates influencing public education.
In recent years, the Department of Education has used federal funds to entice states and local communities to encourage or enforce social change.
South Carolina is currently facing a threat by the US Department of Education to withhold several millions of dollars because the state did not spend as much on early childhood education as the Department of Education mandated.
Large sums of money come to the public schools through the MEDICAID program that was created for the elderly who could not afford the 20 percent for doctor bills and medicine not covered by MEDICARE. The growth in MEDICAID that is exceeding the ability of states to pay is the result of the addition of children to MEDICAID rolls and the incentives provided to bureaucrats and elected officials to recruit recipients.
The federal government promises states $3 for every dollar they spend on MEDICAID. The federal government can print money, the states cannot.
South Carolina has one of the most complex school funding systems known to man. It is no wonder school officials and political leaders can make contradictory statements and the public never knows who is telling the truth. The state has more than 200 separate laws, programs and regulations governing the money going to schools.
One of the controversial topics is ACT 388, the legislation designed to swap local property taxes for additional state sales taxes to fund schools. Using data from the South Carolina Department of Education, the SCRG report on education funding shows that local funding for schools actually grew by $2.7 billion since ACT 388 was passed, while many school officials claimed ACT 388 led to deep cuts.
Education finances are over the head of most school board members who must accept what they are told as a basis for decision making.